"Peace" instead of war: Russian citizens will be able to issue pension cards in Cuba

Russians living in Cuba will be able to apply for Mir pension cards there in the future, Russian Ambassador Viktor Coronelli told Izvestia. According to him, there is no threat to the operation of this payment system in the republic. Visa and Mastercard have been suspended in Cuba since June 6 due to the tightening of sanctions by the United States. Western companies have started to leave the country en masse, and Russian businesses may take their place. This may be hindered by the escalation of the conflict between Cuba and the United States. Donald Trump continues to announce a possible military option. The US Attorney General admitted the possibility of an invasion under the pretext of exporting ex-Cuban leader Raul Castro.

It will be easier for Russians to receive pensions in Cuba

The Visa and Mastercard payment systems have completely stopped working in Cuba since June 6 due to the tightening of secondary sanctions by the United States. Donald Trump signed a decree that blocked the commercial relations of foreign banks with the Cuban financial system. However, the Russian banking infrastructure not only continues to work, but is also developing, Russian Ambassador to Cuba Viktor Coronelli told Izvestia.

—Novik Bank, in cooperation with our embassy, is working on a project to issue Mir cards to Russian citizens living on the island in order to transfer pension payments to them," the diplomat said.

You can also assign a pension in the Russian Federation remotely. But in order to open an account and pick up the Mir card, a citizen must personally appear at a bank branch in Russia or issue a power of attorney for a relative. When a valid card expires, it is blocked. The bank will not send it by mail. By law, it can only be handed over personally to the holder.

According to customs regulations, the transfer of plastic cards in regular letters is prohibited. Therefore, the new initiative makes the procedure easier. This is especially important, since the island is now home to between 3,000 and 5,000 Russians.

According to Victor Coronelli, the Mir maps continue to function on the island without any disruptions. They are accepted for payment in hotels, government restaurants and cafes, and gas stations.

— Pressure from Washington, as you know, is increasing in all directions. Nevertheless, as of today, we do not see any threats to the operation of this payment instrument," the Ambassador concluded.

Base for invasion: The United States is spinning up the case of the 1990s to put pressure on Cuba

Will the American intervention on the island begin, or will Washington use political levers?

It is possible that with the departure of Visa and Mastercard, the country will try to significantly expand the use of the Mir system. However, it should be understood that the possible broad integration of this payment system into the Cuban monetary and financial model will be more of a charity on the part of the Russian Federation, a step more political than economic, Pavel Maryshev, a member of the expert council at the Russian Gas Society, told Izvestia.

According to him, creating conditions for the transition to a new payment system is quite expensive, it includes software adaptation, supplies, setup and maintenance of equipment for processing transactions, and much more. Cuba does not have its own funds for this. Therefore, the costs — and we can talk about hundreds of millions of dollars — will have to be borne by Russian banks or the state, Maryshev believes.

Expansion of Russian business in Cuba

The activity of Russian business in Cuba is now growing. At SPIEF 2026, Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment of the Republic, announced the need to create financial institutions to serve only Russian businesses. The new banks in Cuba will not have assets in the West. Their task is to directly connect Russian companies with Cuban public and private companies.

The implementation of the large–scale EAEU-Cuba plan until 2030 was actively considered at the SPIEF. It includes the replacement of departed European and American suppliers in the fields of pharmaceuticals, automotive and IT by companies from Russia and other EAEU countries.

In particular, it was discussed on the sidelines of the forum that Russian investors and operators could occupy the niche of the relocated hotel chains. Recently, due to the imposition of US sanctions, Canadian Blue Diamond Hotels & Resorts (which operated a number of luxury hotels), Spanish Meliá Hotels (which refused to manage 15 hotels) and Iberostar (12 hotels) hastily left the country. In this situation, Cubans can give priority to those who, on the contrary, enter the market. So, in the fall of 2025, the Russian operator Cosmos Hotel Group signed an agreement with the Cuban side on the management of a five-star hotel in the Holguin resort region.

Aggression from the United States may prevent the active deployment of Russian business in Cuba.

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The likelihood of a U.S. invasion of Cuba

The other day, information appeared in the provincial Venezuelan newspaper Versión Final and spread throughout the world media that Cuban residents allegedly began to be given weapons in preparation for the US invasion. However, experts call this information fake. There is no confirmation of it, the official Havana has not made any statements on this matter.

— This is a parasite on information, because the topic is really hot. It is impossible to determine whether the stuffing was done on purpose or just the newspaper decided to hype on the topic," said Egor Lidovskaya, General Director of the Hugo Chavez Latin American Cultural Center.

According to him, the publication of the material could have been a deliberate action to increase tension and panic the Cuban population with the message that the war was already on the threshold.

However, the situation around the island is really escalating. On June 5, Donald Trump made an official statement about Washington's plans to achieve a change in the political system in Cuba.

Earlier, on May 14, the head of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, visited Havana for talks. According to American media reports, he personally conveyed a message from Trump to the Cuban leadership. Its essence: the United States will begin an economic dialogue only in the event of "fundamental changes" in the republic. According to CBS News, Ratcliffe deliberately took with him to Havana the commander of the special forces that carried out the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January 2026. The channel's sources bluntly called the military's presence an unambiguous hint: either reforms or a military scenario.

The key negotiator on the Cuban side was Raul Castro's eldest grandson— Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, who for many years led his grandfather's personal security detail. It is noteworthy that he is the only one of his kind who has not been sanctioned by the United States. The lists were expanded on June 4, 2026, after a criminal case was opened against Raul Castro. The United States has officially issued an arrest warrant for the former Cuban leader. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche bluntly stated that Castro could be taken out of the country, just as they did with Maduro.

The pressure on Cuba will only increase, Egor Lidovskaya is sure. According to him, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the main lobbyist of the aggression against Havana, got out of control of the American president: if earlier he played the role of a loyal Trump associate, now he is making public statements that run counter to Trump's messages.

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For example, the US president said that he wants to be a mediator in the settlement of the Ukrainian issue. Rubio stated the opposite: Washington continues to supply weapons to Kiev, so it cannot be a neutral party. After meeting with Brazilian leader Lula da Silva, Trump spoke about his desire to conclude a deal with the republic. Rubio also said that the United States has a number of unfriendly countries in Latin America where it is necessary to change the government: Cuba, Nicaragua and Brazil.

According to Lidovsky, Brazil is a candidate for superpower status, a member of the BRICS and a country that claims leadership in Latin America. So far, the United States is not ready to compete with the republic by force. Washington hopes that Flavio Bolsonaro, a leader more complimentary to the United States, will come to power during the presidential elections in October 2026. However, Brazil may become the final target of Washington's Latin American campaign, which began with Venezuela, Lidovsky concluded. Its goal is total control over Latin America.

If this forecast comes true, the region may face a new wave of political crises. For Cuba, this will mean a further struggle to preserve sovereignty, while for Russia, Havana's support will remain not only a matter of partnership, but also an important element in maintaining its influence in the Western Hemisphere.